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Photonics Dictionary

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picosecond pulse

A pulse having extremely short duration, about 10-13 to 10-10 s, that is produced by mode locking of wide-bandwidth lasers, such as the organic dye and ruby lasers. Picosecond pulses are used in the...

picosecond spectroscopy

A method of measuring complex sequential photosynthetic reactions by varying the pulse time and wavelength of light generated by a combination of argon-ion and dye lasers.

picture element -> pixel

A pixel, short for "picture element," is the smallest controllable element of a digital image or display. It is a fundamental unit that represents a single point in a raster image, which is a grid of...

picture monitor

A kinescope used to survey the details of television video transmission.

picture tube

A term referring to the cathode-ray tube used in television receivers.

PID

proportional integral derivative; pulse interference detector

piecewise interferometry

An interferometric technique for the generation of precision gratings that allows for sequential exposure of small segments in the writing of a large grating, allowing increased intensity that...

piezo-optical transducer

A structure consisting of a thin film of liquid crystal sandwiched between light-polarizing filters that have received a surface lubricant. Depending on motion, the transducer acts as a highly...

piezoelectric axis

With respect to a crystal, one of the paths or axes that will exhibit a piezoelectric charge when subject to tension or compression.

piezoelectric crystal

A crystal consisting of a substance that has the ability to become electrically polarized and has strong piezoelectric properties. It is cut so as to emphasize the coupling to some distinct...

piezoelectric motion systems

Piezoelectric motion systems are mechanical systems that utilize piezoelectric materials to generate controlled motion or displacement. Piezoelectric materials exhibit the piezoelectric effect, which...

piezoelectric transducers and ceramic materials

Piezoelectric transducers are devices that utilize the piezoelectric effect to convert electrical energy into mechanical vibrations or vice versa. The piezoelectric effect is a property exhibited by...

piezoelectric

Piezoelectricity is a property exhibited by certain materials in which they generate an electric charge in response to mechanical stress or deformation, and conversely, undergo mechanical deformation...

piezoresistance

Piezoresistance is a phenomenon in materials science and physics where the electrical resistance of a material changes in response to applied mechanical stress or strain. This change in resistance...

pigtail

A short length of optical fiber permanently fixed to a component and used to couple power between it and the transmission fiber.

PIL

picosecond injection laser

PIM

pulse intensity modulation; pulse interval modulation

PIN photodiode

A PIN photodiode is a type of photodetector or semiconductor device used to convert light signals into electrical signals. The name "PIN" is derived from the arrangement of the three semiconductor...

pincushion distortion

An aberration of a lens system caused by an increase in lens focal length as the field angle increases. The amount of distortion normally increases as the cube of the image height.

pinhole camera

A lensless photographic camera that uses a small sharp-edged hole as its aperture. The light passed by this aperture onto the camera's film plane produces a soft-edged image that has a wide field of...

pinhole eyepiece

A type of eyepiece, or the modification of an eyepiece, in which a small hole, without a lens, functions as the eye lens; used in the adjustment and alignment of microscopes.

Pirani gauge

A vacuum gauge designed to measure very high degrees of vacuum by thermal conduction.

PIRT

precision infrared triangulation

pistoning

Motion of a fiber into and out of the ferrule. This effect is often caused by changes in temperature.

pit

The micrometer-size depressions that store data digitally in an optical data storage medium.

pitch

In positioning, rotation about an axis normal to the line of sight. Also known as attitude.

PIXE

particle-induced x-ray emission

pixel binning

Pixel binning, also known as pixel merging or pixel combining, is a technique used in digital imaging and camera technology. It involves the combining or grouping of adjacent pixels on an image...

pixel group processing

In digital image processing, a subcategory of frame processing that treats each pixel in terms of its relationship to adjacent pixels. Perceived brightness trends facilitate spatial filtering.

pixel pitch

Pixel pitch refers to the distance between the centers of two adjacent pixels on a display screen or imaging sensor. It is typically measured in millimeters and is a crucial specification in...

pixel

planar access coupler

Low-insertion-loss fiber coupler fabricated from a sheet of light-sensitive material laminated onto a fused quartz substrate and exposed through a suitable mask. After development of the plastic...

planar magnetron

A device used in the sputtering of thin films, in which a magnet system on the back of the cathode deflects the electrons, lengthening the ionization path. The accelerated ions transfer their...

Planck's (radiation) law

The formula describing the spectral radiant emittance of a perfect blackbody as a function of its temperature and the wavelength of the emitted radiation. where Wλ equals radiation...

Planck's constant

The universal constant h that has a value of 6.6260693 x 10-34 Js. A quantum of energy is equal to the product of the frequency of the radiation and Planck's constant.

Planck's law

A fundamental law of quantum theory which states that the discrete quanta of energy transfers associated with electromagnetic radiation are proportional to the frequency of the radiation.

plane densitometer

An instrument designed to give precise and rapid detection of changes in tumor growth as well as the location of small tumors by providing a three-dimensional picture of the tissue.

plane grating

A transmission or reflecting grating with a flat or plane surface requiring a lens or concave mirror to focus the spectrum.

plane hologram

A two-dimensional hologram.

plane holographic grating

The generation of a grating on a flat surface by means of a series of interference fringes formed by a holographic process. See holographic grating.

plane of polarization -> polarization

Polarization refers to the orientation of oscillations in a transverse wave, such as light waves, radio waves, or other electromagnetic waves. In simpler terms, it describes the direction in which...

plane table -> surveying instruments

Instruments used for measuring angles and occasionally lengths on the ground. The principal surveying instruments are the level, the stadia telescope, the transit and the theodolite. Laser...

plane wave

A wave whose surfaces of constant phase are infinite parallel planes normal to the direction of propagation.

plane wavefront -> wavefront

A wavefront refers to the continuous surface or boundary representing points in a wave that are in phase, meaning they have the same phase or position in their respective cycles. In simpler terms,...

plane-parallel plate -> window

1. A piece of glass with plane parallel surfaces used to admit light into an optical system and to exclude dirt and moisture. 2. A particular region of the electromagnetic spectrum that has been...

plano lens -> window

1. A piece of glass with plane parallel surfaces used to admit light into an optical system and to exclude dirt and moisture. 2. A particular region of the electromagnetic spectrum that has been...

plano

A plano in optics describes a lens, mirror, or other optical component that has one flat (plane) surface. The term is typically used in combination with another term that describes the curvature of...

plasma

A gas made up of electrons and ions.

plasma accelerator

A plasma accelerator is a type of particle accelerator that uses electric fields and magnetic fields to accelerate charged particles, typically electrons or ions, by exploiting the motion of charged...

plasma chemical vapor deposition

The use of a plasma to induce the formation of oxides in the production of graded-index optical fibers.

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